Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Your Job Search is Never Over

"I finally landed a job. Now I can put all that stuff behind me. No more networking. No more working on my portfolio. No more nothin'."

Ummm, wrong.

Time to put together the pieces for your next search. I know, I know. You haven't even started your new job yet and I want you thinking about the next one? Yes.

Let's face it, all jobs end at some point. You always want to have your foundation in place so the next search doesn't have to start from zero.

Here's what I recommend:

Celebrate your job. You've earned it. Now ...

Continue to be involved in industry organizations. I ran into someone at an Ad Club event a few weeks ago. He was out of a job and was trying to reconnect with people. The last time I saw him was a year and a half ago at an Ad Club event when he was – you guessed it – looking for a job. Had he stayed involved he would have had strong relationships to call on instead of trying to create them when he needed them most.

Maintain your relationships (see again recommendation #2). If someone was helpful in your search, thank them. Let them know where you landed and give them your contact information. You may need them again in the future. Or they may let you know when they hear of the perfect opportunity for you.

Help others. Someone helped you, return the favor. Plus, you never know when you may need to call on them.

Collect your work. All of it. Whenever anything gets printed, grab a few samples for your portfolio. Keep a box or file you can throw samples in. Collect screen grabs of web sites and digital files of any broadcast work. You may not get a chance to collect samples later.

Expand your skills. Besides making you more valuable to your new company, they was also make you more marketable next time around.

Be a great employee and co-worker. Keep in mind that your new co-workers will be joining your network and may eventually be your future references. Give them lots of good things to say about you.

Congratulations and good luck. Your search hasn't ended. You just get to move to the next chapter.